Join Us in Expressing Appreciation to Ms. Greene for her Legacy of Service

Michelle Greene will preside over her last Goleta City Council meeting as the City Manager on August 16^th after 18 years of service to the City of Goleta, eight of those as the City Manager. The community is invited to attend the meeting either in person or virtually and show your appreciation to Ms. Greene for the legacy and impact she has left on Goleta during its formative first 20 years as a City.

At the August 16 Council meeting, Ms. Greene will be presented with a City Tile and Proclamation to honor her dedication and years of service to the City. This will be an opportunity for the Mayor, Councilmembers and colleagues to thank Michelle for her dedication and leadership. The public is invited to join us in expressing appreciation to Ms. Greene. Community members can come in person or virtually to comment or can send a note of appreciation to pio@cityofgoleta.org and it will be forwarded to Ms. Greene.

Ms. Greene is the first female City Manager in Goleta and is credited with bringing a new level of professionalism and sophistication to the organization during her tenure.

Significant milestones achieved by the City during Ms. Greene’s tenure as City Manager include:

• Building an effective and innovative organization, including creating new departments, hiring stellar staff and cultivating a positive organizational culture that reflects the values of the Goleta community;
• Completing the new Zoning Ordinance process and adoption of Title 17 of the City’s Municipal Code;
• Creating a municipal library and taking on direct management of the Goleta, Solvang and Buellton Libraries;
• Effecting the purchase of the City Hall facility at 130 Cremona Drive;
• Acquiring the parcel for a community park in Old Town Goleta and constructing Jonny D. Wallis Neighborhood Park;
• Obtaining $3.9 million in state funding for restoration of the monarch butterfly habitat on Ellwood Mesa;
• Acquiring the former Direct Relief parcel on S. La Patera Lane and obtaining $13 million in TIRCIP Grant funding for the Goleta Train Depot project;
• Creating a Public Engagement Commission to advise the City Council on issues related to transparent public participation and governance of the City;
• Establishing the LEAD Academy to help community members learn about City operations, and how they can effectively participate in local governance;
• Achieving a new level of professionalism and regional recognition with the City’s public engagement and communications efforts, including keeping the community highly informed during numerous emergency events, such as wildfires, closure of the 101 Highway due to an unprecedented debris flow event, heavy rains and flooding, and an oil spill that impacted the Goleta shoreline;
• Creating, adopting and implementing the City’s first Homelessness Strategic Plan;
• Constructing capacity and fish passage improvements in San Jose Creek and adopting a Creeks and Watershed Management Plan;
• Establishing a robust Sustainability Program that reaches across several City departments and addresses climate change, recycling and reuse, efficient, clean and renewable energy in City facilities, streetlights, vehicles and in the community;
• Approval of critical fiscal improvements, such as the City’s Investment Policy, a Section 115 Trust for pension obligations, the City’s first long-range financial forecast, and helping grow the General Fund’s unassigned fund balance to ensure increased budget stability;
• The City’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, including maintaining critical services at all times, successfully addressing unprecedented fiscal ramifications, and assisting the local economy with the creation of an Economic Recovery Plan.

Ms. Greene began her career in Goleta as a Management Analyst, before being appointed to the position of Administrative Services Director and later Deputy City Manager. Prior to coming to Goleta, Ms. Greene served as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Escalon, and the City Clerk for Grover Beach.

Newly hired City Manager Robert Nisbet will take over as Goleta’s City Manager on September 1, 2022.

The City is moving forward with the long-awaited San Jose Creek Bike Path Project. The San Jose Creek Bike Path – Northern and Southern Segments project is wrapping up the Conceptual Design and Environmental Review phases of the project and is slated to move into the Final Design and Right of Way phases by early next year.

The purpose of the project is to complete two important path segments for a continuous safe link in the regional active transportation network from Calle Real to the Atascadero Creek Trail (Obern Trail/Coast Route). The project would construct a Class I bikeway (path) to close the 2.5- mile gap between the County (Cathedral Oaks Road) and Goleta Crosstown Route in the north and the County’s Obern Trail/Coast Route in the south. The path would connect the Calle Real commercial and residential areas on the north side of US 101 to commercial and residential areas within the Goleta Old Town area to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the Coast Route. Four significant barriers to north-south regional connectivity would be removed by crossing under US 101 and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) bridges, crossing over San Jose Creek and crossing under SR 217 on the south end.

Project Description:

The project begins on Calle Real extending south along the west side of San Jose Creek to Armitos Avenue, then continues south from Ekwill Street (south of Hollister Avenue) along SR 217 to the Coast Route/Goleta Beach The two segments of the path total nearly one and a half miles in length.

The Northern Segment begins on Calle Real near the south end of North Kellogg Avenue. Heading east, then south, the path goes under US 101 and the railroad bridge over San Jose Creek along the west bank. Bicyclists and pedestrians can then travel west through Jonny D. Wallis Park to access South Kellogg Avenue to connect to the beginning of the Southern Segment just north of Kellogg Way (new Ekwill Street).

The Southern Segment is approximately 1 mile long. The Southern Segment would extend from the bicycle facilities on South Kellogg Avenue, continue between the southern/eastern bank of San Jose Creek, outside the top of bank and the active channel of San Jose Creek, and the SR 217 southbound shoulder, and ultimately connect to the existing Class I Atascadero Creek Bikeway (Obern Trail/Coast Route). The project would cross over the San Jose Creek channel on the north end and would cross under SR 217 on the south end (southern terminus).

The path is typically 8 to 14 feet wide, with 2-foot wide shoulders and typical design speed of 20 mph. The Southern Segment includes a concrete barrier 2 feet in width to separate the path from SR 217 traffic. A 14-foot wide by 8-foot high by 144-foot long box culvert with solar lighting would likely be utilized to provide access under SR 217 at the southern terminus of the project.

The project will require coordination with many agencies including Caltrans, Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), County of Santa Barbara, and permitting agencies such as the California Coastal Commission to name a few.

A Draft Initial Study with a Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) which identifies and discusses potential impacts, mitigation measures, monitoring requirements, and residual impacts for identified environmental issue areas was put out for public circulation with the public comment period closing on August 1, 2022. After addressing public comments on the draft document, Public Works plans to bring the final IS/MND to City Council for approval at the September 20, 2022, meeting. The agenda will be available in advance of the meeting at www.CityofGoleta.org/GoletaMeetings.

The project will be partially funded through a grant received from the Active Transportation Program (ATP). As the project moves forward to the design phase there will be additional opportunities for public comment.

Visit the project webpage for more information.

Project map

Santa Barbara County Public Health has launched a Monkeypox webpage to keep you up to date on the quickly evolving situation. Learn more about symptoms, prevention strategies, and local vaccine availability: https://countyofsb.org/3404/Monkeypox

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. This virus is part of the same family of viruses as the virus that causes smallpox. Monkeypox is of public health concern because the illness is similar to smallpox and can be spread from infected humans, animals, and materials contaminated with the virus. Monkeypox is less transmissible and usually less severe than smallpox.

On August 1, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Monkeypox.